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'''Pakicetus''' is a genus of extinct cetaceans found in the early Eocene (55.8 ± 0.2 - 33.9 ± 0.1 Ma) of Pakistan, hence their name. The strata where the fossils were found was then part of the coast of the Tethys Sea.
The first fossil, a lone skull, was thought to be a mesonychid, but Gingerich and Russell recognized it as an early cetacean from characteristic features of the inner ear, found only in cetaceans: the large auditory bulla is formed from the ectotympanic bone only. This suggests that it is a transitional species between extinct land mammals and modern cetaceans.
Complete skeletons were discovered in 2001, revealing that ''Pakicetus'' was primarily a land animal, about the size of a wolf, and very similar in form to the related mesonychids.

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See Also

References

See Also

Evolution of cetaceans

References

★ ''Pakicetus inachus'', a new archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the early-middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan), P. D. Gingerich & D. E. Russell, , , Univ. Mich. Contr. Mus. Paleont, 1981

★ Skeletons of terrestrial cetaceans and the relationship of whales to artiodactyls, J. G. M. Thewissen, E. M. Williams, L. J. Roe and S. T. Hussain, , , Nature, 2001 Abstract